The present invention relates to the field of electronic control systems and in particular relates to an electronic control system for drilling devices.
It is known that drilling devices are complex machines equipped with numerous accessories that co-operate with one another. Typically, said accessories are managed or controlled by a user responsible for operation of the drilling device, who must be able to access at least the display of operating parameters of the various components (for example, pressure, operating depth, failures, etc.).
There are known control systems of an electronic type with the capacity for displaying the data and with the capacity for interaction with some accessories of the controlled device. Said systems are built in such a way as to adapt to particular types of accessories and are configured via hardware and/or via software so as to adapt procedures, algorithms, and internal operation on the basis of the type of component controlled.
Said control systems have redundancy provided by other control systems, typically manual ones, which even in the case of failure or breakdown enable prosecution of the operativeness of the drilling device.
Electronic control systems of a known type have certain drawbacks.
When a component of the system, for example a sensor, an accessory, or a control device fails, this has to be replaced in order not to alter the functions of the machine. For obvious economic reasons, it is necessary for the replacement to be made and the machine to be set again in operation in the shortest time possible. Both in the case where the accessories controlled by the electronic system are replaced with identical products and, above all when they are replaced with different brands or models, they need to be reprogrammed and it is required the intervention of a skilled technician or very complex instructions.
Furthermore, they are provided with redundant other systems, typically with other mechanical systems. Even though this makes it possible to proceed with the drilling activities, it causes considerable down times for replacement of the electronic system and frequently causes a loss of data and/or operating parameters useful for monitoring and deferred analysis of the progress of the excavation.
Furthermore, the electronic control systems of a known type are all the more complex the greater the complexity of the controlled drilling device; frequently, this causes a considerable complexity of use for the user, in particular, given the current tendency to concentrate as many functions as possible no longer under a direct mechanical control on the part of the user (for example, via control levers), but within the electronic control system itself, which then actuates the various components through servomechanisms.
Finally, electronic control systems of a known type do not enable optimization of control of the intervals of maintenance of the drilling device controlled by them.
In addition, in drilling systems of a traditional type, it is not possible to increase the MTTF (Mean Time To Failure) of digging accessories by mere redundancy. In particular, this applies to the components of the system such as control devices and sensors. For example, in the case of drilling machines, it would be inappropriate to make available in the cab several pairs of joysticks connected up in a redundant way, of which one is operative and the other is disabled until the other joystick of the pair fails. In addition to the obvious problems of space, this choice would cause uncertainties for the operator and risks for his safety.